Live Pterosaurs in America, second edition: Eyewitness Reports of Pterosaurs in the Contiguous United States (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781456341350)

About eyewitness accounts of living pterosaurs, Jonathan Whitcomb has written more books, more web pages, and more blogs than any other person on earth. Google-search with something like "live pterosaur" and about 90% the first-page results will link to pages with at least some reference to this cryptozoologist. Both "Destination Truth" and "Monsterquest" consulted with him in the early phases of preparing their television productions about these flying creatures. Wikipedia's definition of "ropen" gives explicit credit to Whitcomb's first nonfiction book. From late 2003 to the present, there has hardly been any publicized living-pterosaur investigation in which he has not had some part or in which he has not given a consultation or written a commentary. As a forensic videographer, Jonathan Whitcomb was an independent interviewer and video specialist for attorney firms. After examining home video footage of natives on a tropical island, he became convinced that they were telling the truth about what they had seen: a creature Westerners would label "pterodactyl." The deportment of the natives, while telling about their eyewitness experiences, gave them high credibility. He set aside his work in legal video, traveling to Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, and leading the first ropen expedition of 2004. After interviewing many natives, he returned to the United States convinced of the identity of the ropen: a living Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur; but he did not return to his former profession: He became a writer, proclaiming to the world that pterosaurs are still living. But even before his expedition in the southwest Pacific, he began receiving reports from eyewitnesses in the United States; Americans also see large or giant featherless flying creatures unlike any bat. Whitcomb continued interviewing Americans until it became obvious that modern pterosaurs seen in the contiguous states are not just stragglers from Central America: They live here for at least part of the year. Although he himself is not a Young Earth Creationist, Whitcomb has worked with several YEC cryptozoologists; he encourages cooperation between scientists and cryptozoologists of various origin-beliefs. Although he advocates some critical literal interpretations of the Old Testament in relation to modern pterosaurs, religious and philosophical references are limited in this book, confined mostly to part of the appendix. He has written this book to be enjoyed by readers of many beliefs.